Monday, November 16, 2015

Heavenly Father is just so good to us....

This has been a great week full of some amazing things! Miracle are just so eminent in life if we just open our eyes and look for them. Heavenly Father is just so good to us. We must be the spoiled children, because I sure feel like he is spoiling us!

With the world series here I couldn't help but join in on the celebration and buy a shirt! I think I am now a KC Royals fan, sorry! :-) We just got over the craze of the BYU and Missouri game, I can't tell you how much blue we saw here. I ran into a lot of people from Utah who came over here to see the game, pretty cool! There was also a huge tailgate at the Independence Stake Center and Visitors Center. I even ran into people who came to our ward this Sunday who were from the Mendon area! I gave them the inside scoop of where all the good hidden church sights are at.

We had the great opportunity to have interviews with President and Sister Vest this past week. Those interviews have really helped me change my perspective on missionaries. Sometimes I feel like all I see is a bunch of young missionaries who aren't doing what they should. I forget to look at what good they are doing. It can be hard to look past some of the conduct of the missionaries and focus on their hearts. I am getting a lot better at having sincere love and interest for each missionary I have stewardship over and it has been a great learning experience for me. The Lord seems to always put us in the areas where He knows we will learn and grow the most. He truly is good to me.

Crystal is doing great! We are really focusing on how we can help her first kick some bad habits. They truly do take away our agency and tear us down. We are working through some of the church programs with her and have some great ward support that can really relate to her. She is just the sweetest lady! I asked her where she sees herself in 20 years and her response was, "I will be an old yoga lady that works in her garden all day." Haha! That helps you see the kind of person she is. We have also really been focusing on raising her self worth and how she sees herself. We left her with the commitment to write one thing she loves about herself everyday in the front cover of her Book of Mormon, we are doing it right along with her as well. I really emphasized on how we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, but how can we do that if we first don't love ourselves? I absolutely love meeting and teach this lady.

Justin and Regina now have the same last name!!!!!! They were married last Friday. The missionaries have been meeting with them for about three years now and have been trying to get them married, but with their situation it was impossible. The Lord provided a way for them!! They are still doing really well and are progressing very quickly again. With a little firm love and a little push they are starting to kick the bad habits as well. We have had some great lessons with them lately and they are on track to be baptized on December 5th! They are already talking about how fun it will be to go to church and be a "real Mormon family."

Amey is doing very well (yes, that is how you spell her name :-))! She is getting baptized this Saturday at 10am. She has come a long way and loves being called Sister "so and so..." She has been pretty sick these past couple of weeks but she will come around here soon. It should be a great baptismal service.

As I was studying this morning I came across this scripture in Alma 36:30 "But behold, my son, this is not all; for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence. Now this is according to his word."

I love how basic and simply that is said. If you keep the commandment you are blessed! If you don't, you won't be blessed and will also "be cut off from his presence." The gospel is not complicated, Heavenly Father doesn't make it hard for us to be happy. He wants us to be happy and to prosper and so He has created a simple plan and very basic way for that. How blessed are we to be able to have that knowledge? Isn't the gospel amazing?!